Nationals manager Dave Martinez may or may not have deserved to be thrown out of the game yesterday. He did have some choice words against umpire Sam Holbrook, who made an eminently disputable runner interference call at the top of the seventh. And he did continue his tirade after the inning was over. Still, there was no disputing the subjective nature of the arbiter’s decision, not to mention its potential to alter the World Series. In fact, it was so controversial that Major League Baseball needed over four and a half minutes — tantamount to an eternity under the circumstances — to uphold, and a post-match on-record explanation from chief baseball officer Joe Torre to defend.
Given the stakes and the emotions that they stoked, Martinez could have been given a pass for his actions. Never mind that he was so worked up two players had to physical restrain him from going after Holbrook. There was a reason no manager had hitherto been thrown out of a World Series set-to in 23 years. And, more importantly, there was a reason he worked up a lather. On the road and facing elimination, the Nationals were hard-pressed to pad their margin — at the point of dispute the slimmest — in hopes of keeping the championship bid alive, and they didn’t need human error to further highlight the Sisyphean nature of their endeavor.
Thankfully, the Nationals won, and Martinez will no longer have to wonder if his outburst, however justified, cost them the hardware. Today, however, he will want to be more restrained. They will again be at hostile Minute Maid Park, again play the roles of vast underdogs, and again have to exceed themselves in order to prevail against the Astros. If there’s anything going their way, it’s that they have nothing to lose in their aim to keep the string of uninterrupted road wins in the World Series going. They also have supposedly decommissioned Max Scherzer on the mound to give them a fighting chance.
In any case, Martinez won’t be fazed. He wasn’t shaken when the Nationals opened the best-of-seven affair with the worst odds since the Rockies in 2007. He stayed even keeled after they won the first two contests. And he kept his eye on the prize despite seeing his charges succumb in each of the three middle outings at home. That said, he’s crossing his fingers he won’t be placed in the same situation as yesterday’s, when his will was tested and he could have cost them the title. Losing is one thing. Losing by one’s own hand is quite another.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
